ClappingTree’s Web 2.0

“What kind of vicious game is being played here, and who are the sinners and who the sinned against?” – Postman and Weingartner, “Pursuing Relevance: where is the problem?”

HOW DID INSTITUTIONS DESIGNED FOR LEARNING become so widely hated by people who love learning? It’s been almost two years (spring 2007) since Dr Michael Wesch of Kansas State University invited the 200 students in his “Introduction to Cultural Anthropology” class to tell the world what they think of their education by helping him script a video for YouTube.

The result was the disheartening portrayal of disengagement below (viewed almost 3 million times worldwide as of today):

GLOBAL WHITE POPULATION is expected to plummet from a high water mark of 27.86% in 1950 to a single digit (9.76%) by 2060, according to this video (3:56 mins) by the National Policy Institute (NPI), a think tank based in Augusta, Georgia in the United States. Blacks or sub-saharan Africans, on the other hand, will be up dramatically from the 8.97% in 1950 to 25.38% by 2060.

The other groups measured in the study were the Central Asians (Indians), East Asians (Chinese and Japanese), the Southeast Asians, Arabic (north Africa and Middle East) and Amerindian-Mestizo (Mexican and Central America). All these groups will experience a population growth.

WHAT IMPACT DO YOUTUBE and other social media have on human behavior today? Check out this 55-min video presentation at the Library of Congress, June 23rd 2008, produced by Dr Michael Wesch and his anthropology students. More info at MediatedCultures.net.

“Study history, not the media. The truth is not to be found in a television broadcast.” – Chris D. Nebe, director-producer-screenwriter of the “Mysterious China” documentary series which showcases the epic cultural heritage of China

FRANKLY, I DON’T KNOW what to make out of the Tibetan protests. I’ve not spent significant time researching on the issues involved. However, from what I know and remember of Chinese history, I feel quite strongly that Chris Nebe (as a foreigner with insider knowledge and experience of China) is speaking the truth about Tibet in the video here: